Stein

stin, Baron (1757-1831), a Prussian statesman. He was educated at Gottingen, and became the manager of the mining department of the Prussian government. In 1804 he was made minister of state, a position he held with a short intermission until the overthrow of Napoleon had been accomplished. He was the center of an illustrious trio of men. He held the relation to them afterward held by Bismarck to Von Roon and Moltke. He revolutionized taxation, abolished a sort of semi-serfdom, made all classes of men subject to military service, abolished the rule of guilds, leaving every man free to pursue the occupation he might prefer. Remnants of feudalism were abolished, and the peasants were given two-thirds of the lands they occupied. The stand taken by the Prussians at Leipsic and at Waterloo may be credited largely to Stein. The upbuilding of the German army, the success of the Franco-German War, and the creation of the German Empire have their origin in the farseeing plans of Baron Stein. In his later days he was excluded from office by jealousy and criticism. Though little known except by scholars, Stein merits recognition as one of the great men of Germany. See Bismarck